The
process of appointing Supreme Court Justices has undergone changes over two
centuries, but its most basic feature, the sharing of power between the
President and Senate, has remained unchanged. To receive a lifetime
appointment to the Court, a candidate must first be nominated by the
President and then confirmed by the Senate. A key role also has come to be
played midway in the process by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Table 1 of this report lists and describes actions taken by the Senate, the
Senate Judiciary Committee, and the President on all Supreme Court
nominations, from 1789 to the present. The table provides the name of each
person nominated to the Court and the name of the President making the
nomination. It also tracks the dates of formal actions taken, and time elapsing between
these actions, by the Senate or Senate Judiciary Committee on each nomination,
starting with the date that the Senate received the nomination from the
President.

Of the 43 Presidents in the history of the United States, 40 made nominations
to the Supreme Court. They made a total of 160 nominations, of which 124
(more than three-quarters) received Senate confirmation. Also, on 12
occasions in the nation’s history, Presidents have made temporary recess
appointments to the Court, without submitting nominations to the Senate. Of the 36
unsuccessful Supreme Court nominations, 11 were rejected in Senate roll-call
votes, 11 were withdrawn by the President, and 14 lapsed at the end of a
session of Congress. Six individuals whose initial nominations were not
confirmed were later re-nominated and confirmed to positions on the Court.

A total of 117 of the 160 nominations were referred to a Senate committee, with
116 of them to the Judiciary Committee (including almost all nominations
since 1868). Prior to 1916, the Judiciary Committee considered these nominations
behind closed doors. Since 1946, however, almost all nominees have
received public confirmation hearings. Most recent hearings have lasted four
or more days.

In recent decades, from the late 1960s to the present, the Judiciary Committee
has tended to take more time before starting hearings and casting final
votes on Supreme Court nominations than it did previously. The median time
taken for the full Senate to take final action on Supreme Court nominations
also has increased in recent decades, dwarfing the median time taken on earlier nominations.

For another perspective on Supreme Court nominations, which reviews, among
other things, when Presidents announced their intentions to nominate
someone (as distinct from when they formally transmitted Supreme Court
nominations to the Senate), see CRS Report RL33118, Speed of
Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900-2010, by
R. Sam Garrett and Denis Steven Rutkus. For an examination of floor
procedures used by the full Senate in considering Supreme Court
nominations, see CRS Report RL33247, Supreme Court Nominations: Senate
Floor Procedure and Practice, 1789-2010, by Richard S. Beth and Betsy Palmer.

Date of Report: December 7, 2012
Number of Pages: 45Order Number: RL32225Price: $29.95

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